Do you know that a new employee on an average takes 90 days to fulfil its responsibilities and contribute to organizational mission.
It’s not that easy to move to a new workplace and get familiar with a strange environment.
It takes time to adjust to new job and people there.
It’s time-consuming and frustrating experience if there is not right guidance available to new employee.
Many times, workers complain about how overwhelmed they are with their new position. And another common complaint by new employees is that they are given too much information in initial days.
So employee’s orientation is important and it should be conducted in an organized way so that new employees take less time to adjust with their job.
In this article, let’s dig deeper into what is employee’s orientation and how it should be conducted in first place.
What is Orientation in the Workplace?
A new employee is introduced to their job responsibilities, workspaces, and work environments during workplace orientation. A manager helps new employee to know its organization and get familiar with new role and responsibilities.
Orientation covers introduction of workplace, co-workers, and organizational culture.
During orientation new employees are encouraged to ask questions and gather as much information as they can about the various aspects of the organization.
Both the new employee and the organization itself benefit from employee orientation. It also offers useful information to organization and helps the program to develop and improve.
Employees who receive effective workplace orientation have a clear idea of what is required of them and how their position fits into the overall goals of the organization. Orientation assists in guiding new hires through their first challenging days on the job and easing them into the workplace.
Importance of Orientation in the Workplace
Following are some points which explain why successful orientation is important for organization and employee.
Introduction of Policies and procedures
Every organization adheres to a code of conduct. It is crucial to familiarise new employee with the policies and procedures to maintain decorum and discipline. Through orientation a new employees get information about work ethics, values of organization, dress code and office timings.
Job Expectations and Responsibilities
Discussing the job description is crucial during the hiring process. However, there might have been some issues that are not usually covered or talked about earlier.
A thorough orientation helps new employees to understand their primary responsibilities and what are keys tasks for them. This enables new employees to understand expectation of their supervisor.
Employee Benefits
Another purpose of orientation is to apprise employees about their benefits such as life insurance, medical, leaves, holidays and vacation allowances etc.
Through orientation, it is explained to new employees that what are advantages of those benefits and how these are used.
Building Relationship with Co-workers
Last but not the least that orientation is the best opportunity for new employees to develop relationship with other co-workers and team members. It’s responsibility for all of team members to welcome new employees so that they don’t feel isolated and lonely.
The earlier new employees build good working relationship the better for organizational success.
How to conduct orientation in the Workplace
There are some proven ways to conduct orientation in the workplace. Let’s discuss these in detail:
Greetings to the employee
The first and foremost step is to give a proper welcome to new employees. It is important that direct supervisors should meet with them one-on-one, preferably over an off-site lunch where both parties can feel more at ease, and they should be led around the office to meet everyone on their team.
Prepare an orientation package
The employee should be presented with an orientation package that includes job description, essential information about organization, details about renumeration and benefits, pay schedules, direct deposit, payroll deductions, health insurance, attendance policies, and security procedures, as well as any conduct guidelines, such as those regarding harassment prevention, dress codes, drug and alcohol policies, computer and phone use, and mingling with co-workers.
Specify objectives and actions
New employees should meet with their supervisor to go over their expectations for the position during their first week on the job. To gain a full understanding of their anticipations, duties, and priorities, the employee should be ready to ask questions.
Review the rules
To prevent the mistake of unintentionally doing something embarrassing, new employees should be made immediately aware of the rules and policies.
Parking, signing in (if necessary), breaks, etiquette, and any other policies that are extremely crucial for every employee to follow should all be covered as basic topics.
Give a detailed explanation of the job
To help the employee feel a connection to the organization during the first few days, it’s crucial to revisit and reiterate the topics you covered during the interviewing process.
So that they can relate their particular job to the pursuit of achieving these objectives, this process aids new employees in understanding the organization’s expectations, values, and mission.
Clearly state the broad expectations
The strategic goals of the organization and how each employee’s goals are perfectly connected with advancing this overarching vision must be thoroughly explained to new hires by management.
When employees are encouraged to achieve goals that are in line with a larger purpose, they will feel their role and importance within the organization and pursue organizational goals as their own. Knowing what will be assessed will empower them to do a better job.
Conclusion
Workplace orientation’s main goal is to give new employees the fundamental knowledge they need to actively participate in the organization. Employees find it challenging to handle their work without proper guidance. It’s crucial for every manager to understand importance of employee’s orientation and how it should be conducted that new employees become productive and efficient as soon as possible.
